Thank you, America!

I just wanted to thank you all for electing Barack Obama president. I am so thrilled that I am literally crying in this internet cafe in Hampi.

I faxed in my ballot weeks ago from a sandy, old fax machine at the Om Ganesh grocery store in Arambol and I've been crossing my fingers ever since. Yesterday was Tuesday, November 4, but since India is 13 and a half hours ahead, I went to bed uncertain of the results. I just logged into the internet and found out!

I am so happy for our country! I'm also relieved that I won't have to explain to my many new Indian friends why we're still supporting the policies of George Bush when no one seems to like him. This is a question I've gotten repeatedly and I always babble about red states and blue states and fear and patriotism and how money controls politics and how it's hard to know what to do when you're just one person and then I end up shrugging in hopelessness.

So thank you. Really. From me and the entire world.